


Haunting Memory

by Grimmykins



Category: Destiny (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, OC, Original Characters - Freeform, video games - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-13
Updated: 2016-04-13
Packaged: 2018-06-01 23:27:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6541084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Grimmykins/pseuds/Grimmykins
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Athena has made a new friend over the last few months. A Hunter named Leeah. They have been assigned to investigate Fallen territory out in Earth's wilds, just a ways away from the Cosmodrome.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Haunting Memory

The Dreadnaught was eerie and silent as Athena phased onto one of its many floors. But something was different, something was… off. She could hear her Ghost start to speak to her from inside her head.

“So, this is the Dreadnaught…” he said, sheepishly. Athena gave a confused look and opened the palm of her hand, allowing the Ghost to appear before her.

“Ghost, you know we’ve been here, right?”, she questioned, “we’ve done a lot of missions here, including taking down Oryx.”

Surprised by her sudden comment, the Ghost denied ever being there. This puzzled the Titan. 

Then it hit her. She whirled around just in time to see the Awoken fleet making it’s first and final frontal assault on the Hive ship. Dozens of Hildian Seekers and Ceres Galliots flew past, chasing down their prey. Then she saw it, her eyes widening in dismay. Panic overwhelmed the Guardian.

Peeking out from one of the larger asteroids, the Queen of the Awoken’s ship valiantly flew towards the Dreadnaught, unaware that it would meet it’s demise. Athena trembled and tried to fire shots from her scout rifle at the ship to get their attention, but no bullets seemed to leave the chamber. She quickly brought out her sniper rifle to signal the ship with it’s red laser light, but they payed no mind. 

As the Queen began her final assault, all the Guardian could do was fall to her knees and watch as her lover was blown to smithereens by Oryx’s power. Athena shouted and threw her arms at the air as she watched the shockwave hit Mara Sov’s ship. The Titan squeezed her eyes shut, begging anything to make it stop. 

She felt something on her cheek, something familiar. Athena opened her eyes and to her relief, it was her Queen. But again, something wasn’t right. She looked down and saw that the other Awoken had no armour, no helmet, not a thing to keep her from suffocating or freezing. Then the Queen closed the gap between their faces and uttered one question.

“Why did you let me die?”

\---

Athena awoke with a start, breathing and sweating heavily. She whipped her head around, gathering her surroundings. She was home, in her bed, safe and sound. She clutched her heart and hung her head. ‘Not another nightmare…’, she thought. 

After a minute or two, the Titan swung her legs over the side of the bed, put her slippers on and entered her living room. Not even a minute later, she heard a small knock on her front door. Curious, she lingered over and peeped out the small looking glass to see who it might be.

Athena had been expecting a new Guardian she had met during a strike she was assigned to. One of her team members had to be evacuated as his Ghost had gotten damaged, so another Guardian was quickly assigned as backup. Her name was Leeah, a Hunter. Her gun skill and speed was quite remarkable to Athena. They got that assignment done quite quickly after she had joined.

She saw no one waiting at the door, so she decided not to open it, thinking it was just another Guardian playing ding-dong-ditch. She went back to what she was doing in her small kitchen when she heard another knock. Getting a bit miffed, she stomped over and opened the door a bit more forcefully. Seeing no one again, she went to close the door only to have it get stuck on an unseen object. As soon as she started to question, a loud pop sounded off and suddenly there was a figure before her.

She reeled back in panic, which soon turned to embarrassment when she recognized the Awoken laughing at her. 

“I really wish you wouldn’t do that, Leeah. I almost started throwing hammers...”, said the Titan, chuckling with embarrassment.

“Ah, that pose! I wish I could replay that…” the Hunter said, still catching her breath from laughing. 

Athena invited her in and the other Awoken sat down on the couch in the living room as she undid her cape and set it on the shoulder of the furniture. She set her feet up on the nearby coffee table and let out a sigh. She rested her head on the back of the couch and tapped her finger on the armrest, looking around at her new friend’s small apartment. 

Athena went back into the kitchen and put some bread in her toaster. As she waited, she began to think about how their mission would go. They had both been assigned by Zavala to investigate a supposedly abandoned building just outside the Cosmodrome. He had informed them that there had been suspicious activity with the Fallen inhabiting the area, saying that they had been acting particularly odd. It didn’t surprise Athena to learn that the Fallen house occupying that area was none other than the House of Kings. They had been up to some questionable acts in the last month, including almost obliterating her fireteam after they had pursued a Skiff into the wilds. 

The springing sound of the toaster brought her back from her thought process and proceeded to continue getting ready.  
“So, you ready to get going?” Leeah asked from the living room. Athena poked her hand through the kitchen door with a thumbs up. The Hunter giggled and got up to walk towards the kitchen. She discovered Athena packing snacks into a little pack with a mouth full of toast. 

Leeah grabbed her cloak again, while Athena quickly went into her room and changed out of her nightwear, equipped her armour, and went out the door to catch up with the Hunter. The two headed out from the Tower’s housing district and towards the shipyard to grab one of their ships. They boarded Athena’s Hebridean Thoughtcrime and set their coordinates towards the Earth’s wilds, near the Cosmodrome. 

The Titan sat back in her pilot’s seat and closed her eyes. Leeah tilted her head in curiosity and got up towards her friend.

“Something bothering you?” she asked. Athena opened her eyes but didn’t glance towards the other Awoken. Her reply was a shrug. Raising an eyebrow, Leeah tried to investigate, but got nowhere as Athena refused to talk about whatever was bothering her. She dropped the subject and plopped herself back in her seat.

After a few minutes, the ship began beeping, indicating that they were about to land at their destination. Athena told her Ghost to land the ship properly while she and Leeah got themselves ready to be dropped in. She got up with the Hunter and went to the back of the ship while equipping her helmet. Leeah snapped her helmet on and put her hood up as she positioned herself next to Athena. The Titan gave a nod, and they were both phased from the ship's floor to the ground.

They both took in their surroundings, observed any potential threats and then gave the all clear for the ship to land itself somewhere discreet. 

They approached the building cautiously, guns up and fingers on the triggers. They had no idea what to expect from the elusive House. For all they knew, they could have tamed a Hive creature worse than Phogoth somewhere hidden in that building. Athena entered through the archway that lead into the area and observed what surrounded her. She gave Leeah the signal that it was clear for now and the Hunter followed in.

They were in a moderately large room, much like the areas they had been to inside the Cosmodrome. Athena lowered her gun and lifted her helmet just enough to show her face.

“Well… Split up or stay together?” She asked.

“Probably stick together. I’d rather not have to run to revive you from all the way across this complex.” The Hunter teased. Athena scowled and clicked her helmet back in place.

It wasn’t more than a minute after they spoke when they felt the ground rumble. Leeah placed her hand to the ground and felt where the vibrations were strongest. She slid her gloved fingertips slowly in the direction of a sealed off hallway, then pointed to it. Moving silently, the Hunter slid across the room and disappeared into the dark hallway. Athena tried to move as silently as she could to catch up to her partner, and eventually found her crouched and peering down a dark staircase. The Hunter looked back at Athena and motioned with a slight movement of her head to follow her down. 

As they descended the rusty and cracked staircase, they could feel the vibrations getting a bit harder. Not enough to shake the entire area, but just enough to feel it resonate in their armour. 

The pair reached the end of the staircase and approached a doorway that had light emitting from the room within. Leeah crouched and slowly walked up to the door with her gun pointed forward. She peered around the door slowly. What she saw made her gun drop and her posture fall limp. Athena could almost feel the Hunter’s blood go cold. She approached her partner and looked into the room. She then saw why Leeah had gone numb. 

Inside was a hologram of the Traveler hovering over the City. Surrounding the hologram were 3 Wolf Archon’s and 5 King Archon Priests. Standing around the hulking figures were Fallen captains and vandals, each talking in their own tongue to each other, some pointing at the hologram and others nodding in approval to whatever was said to them. 

Athena glanced towards the back of the room and noticed another figure. He had different armour, more decorative and agile-looking than the rest in the room. He was slumped in a seat, his head rested on one of his four hands. There was no mistake as to who this Fallen was.

“The King’s Kell…” Athena whispered under her breath. She realized the mistake she made by talking when a dreg had turned towards them and shrieked, causing all the heads in the room to turn in unison towards the door where both Guardians sat.

“Fall back!” Athena screamed as she grabbed Leeah’s arm and pulled her along up the stairs. When they reached the top, Athena scanned the room to find cover.

“We can’t let them finish whatever it is they’re doing. They either succeed in killing us here and preserve their secret, or we flee and they act on what they’re doing. Either way, the odds aren’t in our favour here.” the Titan explained as fast as she could while leading them both to cover.

“Then let’s make this a slaughter house” Leeah said excitedly as she turned her gun towards the hall that they had run out from. Athena sighed and turned her gun as well. She’d rather not kill anything, but if she were to survive along with her partner, she’d have to. 

From behind them, two captains approached. Leeah turned her head just in time to see both raise their shrapnel launchers toward her. She motioned for Athena to run just before they pulled their triggers. Athena bolted away, thinking that Leeah was just behind her, but she was wrong.

The Titan looked back and saw Leeah try to sprint after her, but only to get shot in the legs, knocking her down. Athena was paralyzed. All she could do was watch as one of the captains approached her partner with a sort of prideful swagger in his steps. The other captain ran up to the frozen Titan and grabbed her by the mane of her helmet, ripping it off. The Fallen leaned his face down to Athena’s shoulder and clutched her face with his hand. He uttered something in his own tongue in a grim tone.

All it took was one blink. Athena didn’t see Leeah sprawled on the floor. She saw someone else in her place. She saw her Queen. The sight of her looking at the Titan in utter dismay as bullets entered her torso caused Athena to completely lose herself.

The centre of her chest went molten as the rest of her body caught aflame. Her eyes glowed a bright white, full of fury and hate. She flung her fist out and a flaming hammer appeared with a loud boom. She hurled around and smacked the captain in the face, causing his body to disintegrate into the air. She flung her glance towards the other captain, who was already sprinting for his life. Athena caught up with him with a burst of flame to propel her, kicking him down and holding him to the ground with her weight as she slammed hammer after hammer in his caved skull. When the Fallen had finally turned to ash, she let a bloodcurdling shriek escape her mouth.

She got up and faced the dark hallway, huffing in disgust. The first of the pursuers had peeked their heads out into the room. They were soon obliterated by a flurry of flaming steel. The Sunbreaker then began to hammer at the walls around the entrance, causing a cave in and blocking the doorway. 

Athena let out a sigh as the flame left her body and she began to cool down. She looked up to see Leeah’s Ghost hovering above her body, no trace that the Queen of the Reef had ever been there. The Titan dragged her feet over to the Ghost and placed her hand in his energy ball, which then emitted a flash of light as Leeah popped up from the ground, alive and well again.

“Sheesh, took you long enough…” the Hunter said, annoyed while dusting off her armour. “What happened back there?” Athena didn’t answer. She walked away, picked up her broken helmet and proceeded to leave the complex. Leeah sighed and followed the Titan back to the ship.

 

\---

Athena made her way up the stairs that led to the Speaker’s study. The events that had passed just a day earlier were about to be told and made apparent. As she explained everything that had went down, the Speaker had her pause while he called in the Vanguard. She explained every detail of the room that the Fallen were conspiring in, every piece of dialect she could pick up from them, every detail in the King Kell’s armour and physique. Zavala congratulated her and Leeah’s work and informed her that the Vanguard would make this investigation their top priority.

As the Titan left the Speaker’s tower, she noticed Leeah sitting up on one of the shrubs waiting for her. When she noticed that Athena had seen her, she gave a small wave and beckoned for the Titan to follow her. Athena nodded and both of them walked together towards the housing district.

“So my Ghost recorded what happened when I went down… You didn’t look like you, Athena.” Leeah said, concerned. She stepped in front of the other Awoken and looked into her eyes. “What’s wrong?” That question always made Athena angry. She saw it as a sign that she had failed to keep her emotions from getting out of hand. 

“And don’t tell me it’s nothing, because from what I saw from my Ghost’s recording, it’s NOT nothing.” The Hunter pressed. She was suddenly embraced by Athena’s strong arms and squeezed. Confused but not unhappy, she wrapped her own arms around the Titan and stood in silence as she felt the other shiver.

“Don’t say a word to anyone about this.” the Titan said, defiantly.

 

\----

**Author's Note:**

> This was a semi-continuation from one of my friend's series, An Exo's Destiny. (Makuta_Tobi)


End file.
